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. 2022 Nov;27(4):605-614.
doi: 10.1177/10775595211012480. Epub 2021 Apr 26.

Concurrent Childhood Experiences Impact Underage Substance Use

Eliza Broadbent  1 , Jacob Read Miller  1 , Aaron Cheung  1 , Elizabeth Mathews Rollins  1 , Lynneth Kirsten B Novilla  1 , Melissa Stanfill Downing  1 , AliceAnn Crandall  1
Affiliations

Concurrent Childhood Experiences Impact Underage Substance Use

Eliza Broadbent et al. Child Maltreat. 2022 Nov.

Abstract

Adverse and advantageous childhood experiences (ACEs and counter-ACEs) during adolescence are understudied. This study examined how childhood experiences affect youth tobacco/alcohol use. Participants included 489 U.S. adolescents (baseline 10-13 years; 51% female) from the first five waves of the Flourishing Families Project. Results of the cross-lagged model showed ACEs were predictive of early tobacco use only. Counter-ACEs in wave two and wave three predicted, respectively, decreased tobacco and decreased alcohol use in the following wave. Counter-ACEs were also correlated with reduced alcohol and tobacco use in later waves. These findings indicate the salience of counter-ACEs over ACEs in persistent and late adolescent substance use, though ACEs may be important to consider to prevent very early initiation of tobacco.

Keywords: adolescence; advantageous childhood experiences; adverse childhood experiences; alcohol; structural equation modeling; tobacco.

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